The Madonna, The Whore, The Myth: Deconstructing the Madonna/Whore Dichotomy in the Scarlet Letter, the Awakening, and the Virgin Suicides

Greer, Whitney (2016) The Madonna, The Whore, The Myth: Deconstructing the Madonna/Whore Dichotomy in the Scarlet Letter, the Awakening, and the Virgin Suicides. Undergraduate thesis, under the direction of Theresa Starkey from Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, University of Mississippi .

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Abstract

This thesis works to answer several questions as well as raise questions regarding the Madonna/Whore dichotomy, what is actually is, and why it is still a judgment standard used in American society. This is addressed in a series of chapters that look at the origin of the dichotomy, female literary characters to whom it has been applied, and what those applications say about American, and more broadly Judeo-Christian, society at that time. Throughout an examination of The Scarlett Letter, The Awakening, and The Virgin Suicides, the way in which women are presented and the extent to which their identities are manipulated into or expected to align with the Madonna/Whore dichotomy is analyzed. Central to this analysis of the application of the Madonna/Whore dichotomy is an evaluation of the archetypes it embodies, specifically their origin, their evolving and/or static properties, and their power within Judeo-Christian society.

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